Reb, I remembered how you said many times that Europe should take back the Jews from Israel. Since something didn't click there I did my own research, so please forgive me and correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this true:
1. It is estimated that 800,000 to 1,000,000 Jews were either forced from their homes or left the Arab countries from 1948 until the early 1970s; 260,000 reached Israel between 1948–1951, and 600,000 by 1972. The Jews of Egypt and Libya were expelled while those of Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and North Africa left as a result of physical and political insecurity. Almost all were forced to abandon their property. By 2002, these Jews and their descendants constituted about 40% of Israel's population.
2. In 1922, the League of Nations granted the United Kingdom a mandate over Palestine under terms similar to the Balfour Declaration. The population of the area at that time was predominantly Arab and Muslim, with Jews accounting for about 11% of the population
3. Holocaust survivors:
With the exception of 10,000–15,000 who chose to make their homes in Germany after the war, the vast majority of the Jewish DPs (from Displacement person camps) ultimately left the camps and settled elsewhere. About 136,000 settled in Israel, 80,000 in the United States, and sizeable numbers also in Canada and South Africa.
4. Between 1990 and 1994, the Russian immigration increased Israel's population by 12%.Out of more than one million Russian-speaking immigrants in Israel about 300,000 are considered gentile by the Orthodox rabbinate.
5. Some 120,000 Ethiopian Jews live in Israel.
6. About 35% of all Israeli Jews are (first or second generation) descended from European Jews.
So, some 65% of today's Jewish population of Israel consists of Jews who didn't come from Europe. Am I right?
If the other 35% did come from Europe, we need to see where from Europe did they come.
It's hard to find accurate statistics so I had to use some other ways.
For example, I expected most of the politicians to originate from those European Jews, and I was right. A quick view of the Israeli prime ministers and where did they come from:
1. David Ben-Gurion- born in Płońsk - Russian Empire, today in Poland
2. Moshe Sharett- born Kherson, Russian Empire, today in Ukraine
3. Levi Eshkol- born in Oratov, Russian Empire, today in Ukraine
4. Yigal Allon- born in Kfar Tavor, Palestine, now Israel
5. Golda Meir - born in Kiev, Russian Empire, now Ukraine
6. Yitzhak Rabin - born in Jerusalem, British Mandate of Palestine, now Israel
7. Menachem Begin - born in Brest, Russian Empire, now Belarus
8. Shimon Peres - born in Wiszniewo, Belarus
9. Yitzhak Shamir - born in Ruzhinoy, Russian Empire, now Belarus
10. Benjamin Netanyahu - born in Tel Aviv, Israel (family came from Poland)
11. Ehud Barak- born in Mishmar HaSharon, British Mandate of Palestine, now Israel
12. Ariel Sharon- born in Kfar Malal, British Mandate of Palestine, now Israel
13. Ehud Olmert- born in Binyamina, British Mandate of Palestine, now Israel.
So, now we get a picture where even from those 35% European Jews, the big majority are from the ex-USSR and a very small number is from the EU or Balkans.
If this gives some impression it's that the majority of those who came from Europe were actually from Belarus, Ukraine and Russia.
So I wonder what do you mean when you say that Europe should take the Israelis back?